LIVERafael Nadal - Kevin AndersonUS Open men - 11 September 2017

US Open – Follow the Tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Kevin Anderson live with Eurosport. The match starts at 04:00 on 11 September 2017. Our live coverage lets you follow all the key moments as they happen.Head-to-head: see historical stats and visit our detailed profiles for Rafael Nadal vs Kevin Anderson. Get all the latest on Tennis: fixtures, results and tables.

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Highlights

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Nadal on uncle Toni, who won't be travelling with him next season: "I can't thank him enough for all the things he has done for me. Probably, without him I would never be playing tennis. It's great I had someone like him pushing me.... "Thank you very much to him because, for sure, he is one of the most important people in my life."

Nadal: "I just say thank you to life for the opportunity..."

Nadal: "For me, personally it's just unbelievable what has happened this year after a couple of years with some troubles...."

Anderson: "I want to congratulate Rafa. I know we're the same age, but I feel I've been watching you my whole life. You've been an idol of mine and it's tough playing you. You proved it again tonight, you're one of the greatest ambassadors of our sport."

VIDEO: How No.16 was won.

GAME, SET AND MATCH!- NADAL 6-3 6-3 6-4 ANDERSON. He's done it! Nadal is the 2017 US Open champion. It's his third title here and his 16th major overall. The Spaniard was just too good for Anderson, serving it out on his second match point from deuce to seal victory in two hours and 27 minutes. It was a nervy final game, but in truth Rafa was in total control throughout. He has now claimed multiple Grand Slam titles in the same year for the fourth time in his career after winning La Decima at the French Open a few months back.

SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP POINT FOR NADAL! A huge serve when he needs it. The Spaniard has another chance...

DEUCE! A great return from Ando and Nadal hammers a tight forehand into the net.

Nadal serving for the match: The Spaniard looks nervy, but gets lucky when Anderson somehow fires an overhead long. The South African doesn't make the same mistake on the next point and angles an overhead backhand to make it 30-30. Nerve-jangling moment for Nadal...

NADAL 6-3 6-3 5-4 ANDERSON. Rafa comes out all guns blazing as he looks to finish it on Ando's serve. The South African bites back with a pair of aces and rattles through four points in a row to make Nadal serve it out. He's done it 15 times before, but does he still get nerves? We are about to find out.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 5-3 ANDERSON. Nadal is one away from a third US Open title as he breezes through another love hold. There's no doubt he's been the main man over the past fortnight. A worthy champion.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 4-3 ANDERSON. Big Kev staying in touch. It's been much closer in this set without looking truly competitive. It's almost as if Nadal got the early break and feels confident that he can coast through without being harmed by his opponent's return game.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 4-2 ANDERSON. There are cheers of support from a crowd hoping to see more tennis as Anderson takes the opening point on Nadal's serve. However, any hopes of a break are soon quashed as Rafa takes the next three points before maintaining his advantage with a hold to 30. The finish line is nigh for the 15-time Grand Slam winner... who won't be called that for much longer with No.16 seeming imminent.

Trainer treating Anderson for a cut/blister.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 3-2 ANDERSON. That's a beauty from Anderson. The world No.32 corks a backhand winner down the line to seal a love hold. Can it give him the mammoth lift he needs? Probably not, but it does seem like Nadal's level has dipped in the past couple of minutes.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 3-1 ANDERSON. Nadal on the march at 40-0 but gets a tad sloppy and allows Ando to peg back two before getting off the hook when the South African unloads long of the baseline.

Nadal buzzes around the court and picks up shots that don't seem returnable.

NADAL 6-3 6-3 2-1 ANDERSON. The Buzz Saw gets on the board with a routine service game. It's just not gone to plan tonight. It's partly down to his own rhythm, but also due to Nadal's relentless pressure.

BREAK! - NADAL 6-3 6-3 1-0 ANDERSON. Big Kev hammers another nail into his own coffin. He sees a 40-15 lead disappear in the blink of an eye. Rafa cranks up the heat to earn another break point and, with Anderson's belief in tatters, the No.28 seed fires a forehand long to gift his opponent the perfect start to Set 3. It's all over bar the shouting.

Impressive... Most impressive...

SET! - NADAL 6-3 6-3 ANDERSON. Rafa wastes little time in clinching a two-set lead. He flashes a wonderful crosscourt forehand and glances back to his box in satisfaction. It was a fourth love hold of the contest and means he is one set away from Grand Slam title No.16.

NADAL 6-3 5-3 ANDERSON. A couple of big yells of 'Come on!' from Anderson as he edges to a hold to 30 to pose the serve-out question to Nadal. He needs something special right now if he's to have any hope whatsoever....

NADAL 6-3 5-2 ANDERSON. Nadal consolidates for the loss of one point, once again wowing the crowd with some outstanding court coverage. His speed and work rate really is something to behold and it must be demoralising for Ando, who can feel his dream of glory slipping away now.

BREAK! - NADAL 6-3 4-2 ANDERSON. More fist-pumping from Rafa as he delivers what could be a killer blow. The World No.1 ups the ante to snare double break point (BP) and converts on the second with some wonderful volleying at the net.

NADAL 6-3 3-2 ANDERSON. A first ace of the evening opens up another love hold for Rafa, who is barely being troubled by Anderson's return game. The South African's best hope seems to be a tie break. He needs to make Nadal's belief falter, which is all the more difficult once the King of Clay has his nose in front.

NADAL 6-3 2-2 ANDERSON. It looks like Ando's thumping serve has now turned up. He's finding that bruising forehand too which does plenty of damage on his way to another solid hold to 15.

NADAL 6-3 2-1 ANDERSON. That's more like it from the Buzz Saw. He plays one of his best points of the match to dictate with power from the baseline to make 30-30. But Nadal has built a career out of bossing the big points and he claims the next two to maintain his lead.

NADAL 6-3 1-1 ANDERSON. That will feel mighty good. Anderson pulls off an easy hold to 15 for the first time, firing down a seventh ace of the match along the way. He needs to keep that up now - but that's easier said than done against Nadal.

NADAL 6-3 1-0 ANDERSON. No let up from Nadal. He saunters to a love hold to earn the scoreboard advantage. It's going to take a major turn of events for Anderson to stop the top seed now.

SET! - NADAL 6-3 ANDERSON. What a way to finish! Rafa breaks again from deuce, showing a lovely touch with the drop volley at the net to take the opening set in 58 minutes. The familiar low punch celebration follows to suggest he is well and truly in the groove, which is very bad news for an already fatiguing Anderson.

Very nice - but no cigar.

NADAL 5-3 ANDERSON. Rafa relentlessly peppers the Anderson backhand with a flurry of forehands and it's taking a lot out of the South African. He can do very little to halt the Spaniard's momentum as Nadal consolidates to 15.

BREAK! - NADAL 4-3 ANDERSON. Another Anderson service game, another face-off at deuce. This time a double fault offers up Rafa's fifth opportunity to break - and it's finally too much for Ando who flashes wide of the tramlines to give the world number one the edge. It's been 47 minutes of resistance from the South African, but he's up against it now.

NADAL 3-3 ANDERSON. Finally, Anderson springs from defence to attack but an unforced error on a sitter of a backhand drive sees him pass up the chance of double break point. Nadal jumps on the let off and clinches the game with a sneaky serve and volley combination.

NADAL 2-3 ANDERSON. Big Kev isn't being allowed to build much rhythm on the huge weapon that is his serve. Nadal continues to stand way back and is making life uncomfortable for the No.28 seed when he's not watching the occasional ace fly by. The 15-time major winner has two more break points, but Ando refuses to buckle. He's closing in on 50 points on his serve already, while Nadal had played just nine...

NADAL 2-2 ANDERSON. That's ice cool from Nadal. He crunches a brilliant forehand winner to the left flank he's facing to conclude a rapid love hold. Straight back over to 'Buzz Saw' Anderson, who could really do with picking up a run of cheap points on serve after a couple of testing games.

VIDEO: One of the shots of the match so far.

NADAL 1-2 ANDERSON. Frustration for Rafa. He piles the pressure on to Anderson and has two break points from a lengthy stand-off from deuce, but the towering South African trades blows in some gruelling rallies and eventually pulls off a big hold.

NADAL 1-1 ANDERSON. It doesn't have the same venom, but under the tutelage of Carlos Moya there's no doubr Nadal's serve has improved. It's certainly the case on the second serve and it helps him through a simple hold to 15 to level.

NADAL 0-1 ANDERSON. Super defence from Nadal, but he still can't stop Anderson from getting off on the front foot. The South African comes unstuck on each occasion Rafa engages him in a rally, but he delivers a couple of service winners and a pair of aces to take the game from deuce.

21.25

Anderson will serve first in the 2017 US Open final.

21.21

The players are now out on court and running through the warm up.

21.20

Or this come the end of the evening?

21.18

So, will we see this?

21.15

WHAT WILL THIS DO TO THE RANKINGS? A victory would move Rafa 1960 points clear of Roger Federer at the top of the world rankings. Anderson will already rise from 32 up to 15 as a result of his run to the final - but if he can pull off a major shock tonight he'll wake up on Monday at No.10.

21.10

This is definitely worth a listen!

21.08

21.05

Earlier in the tournament, Eurosport's Dan Quarrell got up close and personal with Nadal's racket stringer. It's fair to say he's done a good job for the Spaniard so far!

All the talk in the top half of the draw was regarding a potential semi final clash between Nadal and Federer, but the latter came unstuck against 2009 winner Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentine's fairytale run had already seen him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Dominic Thiem, but he couldn't repeat the heroics versus an inspired Nadal in the last four.

20.55

Anderson has reached this showpiece occasion after taking advantage of a weakened bottom half draw. Andy Murray withdrew through injury at the 11th hour while the likes of Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic all fell early in the tournament to provide a number of unlikely hopefuls a huge opportunity. Big Kev was the one to seize it with last hurdle now just minutes away....

20.50

Anderson on Nadal: "Nadal is one of the greatest competitors in sports, period. He's an amazing fighter. He really controls the court well, the few times I have played him. I really need to be dominant and control proceedings as much as possible, because if you let him do it, it's very difficult."

20.45

Key to Anderson's hopes will be his serve. He's thundered a tournament-leading 114 aces so far and if he finds his rhythm from the off he could make life very difficult for Nadal. Perhaps more surprisingly, Ando has nailed 250 forehand winners. That's 49 more than Rafa's trademark weapon.

20.40

CONTRAST: This is the 23rd major final for Nadal, and his third of 2017. But it's very much a new experience for Anderson. Indeed, he's won just three career titles compared to Nadal's 73, and they have all come in the ATP World Tour 250 series. This really is the biggest moment in the South African's career.

20.35

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Nadal has won all four of their previous meetings, including a 6-3 6-4 triumph earlier this year at the Barcelona Open. The Spaniard has only dropped one set across the four matches - but the last time the King of Clay faced a player he had a 100 per cent record against in a major final, he lost. That was back in the 2014 Australian Open final when an injured Nadal succumbed to Stan Wawrinka.

20.30

Nadal on Anderson: "I'm happy for him because I know him since we were 12. It's great to see him in a final of one of the most important events of the year."

20.25

Hello and welcome to game-by-game coverage of the 2017 men's US Open final. It's world number one, Rafael Nadal against South Africa's Kevin Anderson in a showdown few would have predicted a fortnight ago. The giant No.28 seed is appearing in his maiden major final at the age of 31, while Nadal bids for a 16th Grand Slam title to cap a scintillating return to form over the past nine months. The players are due on court just after 9pm UK time - all the build up next...